Astronomical Image Processing. Handbook of, This second edition of the Handbook of Astronomical Image Processing (HAIP) and its integral AIP for Windows 2.0 image processing software (AIP4Win2.0) addresses many important changes that have taken place in astronomical imaging since the publication of the first edition. Today's affordable astro-imaging capable digital single-lens-reflex cameras (DSLRs), the growing power of personal computers, and the proliferation of telescopes and imaging accessories has brought imaging capabilities within the reach of practically every amateur astronomer - and this second edition of the Handbook plus AIP4Win 2.0 is ready, willing, and able to assist every observer in making great astronomical images.
In the Handbook, we amplified the original chapters on astronomical equipment and imaging techniques, revised our discussions of astrometry and photometry to reflect the steady growth in these scientific fields, and expanded tutorials in the back of the book to help you get up to speed quickly. On the accompanying CDROM (found on the inside back cover) you will find hundreds of megabytes of sample images you can use to learn techniques such as image registration and stacking that guarantee good results even from those living with suburban and urban skies. Also new are comprehensive chapters on color imaging with astronomical CCD cameras and processing color images from digital cameras, and photon-counting fundamentals every serious astro-imager needs to know.
When you purchase the Handbook of Astronomical Image Processing, you receive one CDROM containing AIP4Win 2.0 that is licensed for use on one personal and a portable computer if you own one. AIP4Win 2.0 requires validation via the web (or telephone) within 30 days of installation. Once validated, you also receive the right to updates (free downloads via the web) and upgrades (for a fee) as they become available.
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A Guide to Astrophotography with Digital SLR Cameras

This book on CD-ROM is a practical guide to astrophotography with digital single lens reflex (DSLR) cameras. It explains how digital cameras work and everything you need to know about how to take astrophotos with them. It also tells you how to process the images after you have shot them, with step-by-step directions that will produce beautiful results.
More than 100 minutes of video tutorials with step-by-step instructions for complete image processing and enhancement of JPEG and Raw images are included on the CD-ROM.
Named by Sky and Telescope magazine as a Hot New Product for 2007!
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Introduction to Digital Astrophotography - Imaging the Universe with a Digital Camera

This book is a 400+ page comprehensive, nuts-and-bolts introduction to digital astro-imaging written by Robert Reeves, an accomplished author and film imager with nearly 50 years of experience who has enthusiastically made the transition to digital imaging. Robert describes how the family digital camera you probably already own can be used to take spectacular pictures of the night sky. This is especially true if you have purchased a digital camera within the past several years - even some entry level point-and-shoot digital cameras take pictures of the Moon and planets that rival or exceed the best film images. If you already own a digital camera, telescope, and computer you probably only require a camera adapter and image processing software - some of which is free - to begin your night sky imaging adventures and unlike film you see your results almost instantly!
Among the topics covered are:

    * What digital cameras can do (and what they can't).
    * How much resolution is enough?
    * Web cams - spectacular immediate gratification on the cheap!
    * Why is digital imaging often easier, much easier, than film?
    * What are the special considerations for digital astrophotography?
    * What are the various types of astrophotography and which is best for me and my equipment?
    * How do I go about choosing a digital camera (or exploiting the strengths of the one I have now)?
    * Which lenses are best for which targets and how do I go about testing them?
    * How do I setup and align my telescope?
    * What is image processing and how do I go about it?
    * Plus much, much, more...

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The New Astro Zone System for Astro Imaging - Ron Wodaski  with additional content by Russell Croman

Photoshop is a powerful tool, but it's also very complicated. The Zone System not only shows you how to process your images in Photoshop, it gives you a complete system for astro image processing. The book is in full color on every page, and it includes a DVD with video training, free software, and other goodies.

The Zone System grew out of the CCD Imaging Camps I held for the last several years in New Mexico. It is based on painstaking research into how Photoshop works - and why it works the way it does. You won't just learn some useful ways to use Curves; you'll learn the type of curve to use, the correct way to integrate Curves and Levels, and more. The most important thing you'll learn, however, is how to take the guesswork out of processing astronomical images.

The Zone System book is based on:

    * Watching students learn how to work with Photoshop at the Camps
    * Breaking down the steps in Photoshop to their fundamentals
    * Putting the steps back together in a way that makes sense for astro image processing
    * Showing how to process an image from end to end
    * Developing new ideas on color, signal to noise ratio, and other topics

But the biggest idea that brings everything together is the Zone System itself. By breaking the image down into manageable zones, you learn how to get the most out of any image you process. For a breakdown of the zones, please check out the sample pages.  Note: The sample pages skip around a bit, to show different features of the book. They are not a complete chapter or section!

The sample pages include a preview of the Zone System, and highlights from a Photoshop tutorial.

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The New CCD Astronomy  Ron Wodaski  The subtitle says it all: how to capture the stars with a CCD camera in your own backyard. Ron Wodaski’s in-depth guide to digital imaging covers all the hardware and software essentials. Step-by-step tutorials, extensive illustrations, and a multitude of sample images will help everyone get the most out of CCD chips and image-processing programs.
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Photoshop Astronomy, by R. Scott Ireland, softbound, 8.5 by 11 inches, 280 pages, includes DVD with full resolution images used in this book’s tutorials. Ship wt. 1kg.
Photoshop Astronomy starts with the tools you'll need for your digital darkroom, including choices for computer platforms, RAM considerations, hard dives, optical drives, video cards, USB hubs, and other peripheral devices. Ireland spends a great deal of time discussing computer monitors and specifically stresses the importance of color-calibration systems. "the best monitor in the world," he writes, "won't do you much good if it is not calibrated." Printers, scanners, and file formats are also discussed at length.

The chapters are arranged by image-processing themes and are ordered roughly by complexity. Chapter two contains exercises designed to familiarize readers with color space, color management, color profiles, and bit-depth. Chapter three deals exclusively with understanding an image histogram and how to interpret changes incurred to the tonal range when you are applying the Levels command. Next, the Curves function –quite possibly the most powerful tool in all of Photoshop–is explained.

After covering these basics, Ireland recommends that the reader skip to points of particular interest, though each chapter still builds upon the previous one and introduces new concepts. For example, many astrophotographers dedicate their observing time to one category of imaging, such as deep sky, lunar and planetary, or comets. A reader might assume that the sections on planetary imaging would be of little use to deep-sky astrophotographers. But I find that the techniques I use for planetary images can be just as useful for deep-sky photographs.

While I didn't always agree with Ireland's approach to various image-processing tasks, the reasoning for his decisions was always sound. Moreover, it should be noted that in cases where Photoshop cannot adequately perform a task, the author had no qualms about recommending other programs that can do the job.

Overall, it's hard to complain about anything in Photoshop Astronomy. Everything the author sets out to tackle is covered well, especially when the reader uses the images provided on the DVD to methodically follow each step. Ireland also freely admits (as does any good teacher) that he is still learning new tricks every day. Photoshop is such a powerful, evolving program that users always seems to be discovering new useful techniques that can further enhance their images.

While virtually all of Ireland's tips can be found or discovered on your own, it would take many months or even years to find and memorize all the information Ireland provides in this one-stop source. That makes Photoshop Astronomy worth its weight in gold ... or terabytes.

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Introduction to Webcam Astrophotography — Imaging the Universe with the amazing, affordable webcam - Robert Reeves
 In the last few years webcam astrophotography has exploded onto the astronomy scene. It has rapidly evolved from short exposure six-bit black-and-white imagery into long-exposure full-color 16-bit per channel imagery of such quality that it rivals “conventional” means of astrophotography. Indeed, webcams have become the method of choice for planetary imaging.

The message of this book is that you too can participate in this revolution without spending very much money. You do not need to invest $10,000 in a CCD camera, telescope and software. A basic webcam costs about the same as a "so-so" eyepiece. Software to control the camera and process the images that will get you going is free. If you have the telescope (practically any telescope that will track) and a computer you are ready. Since you see your results instantly the learning curve is much shorter.

Regardless of how you apply a webcam to astrophotography, you will derive a number of benefits. Working with them has been accurately described as interesting, challenging, and fulfilling. Webcams are capable of producing beautiful astrophotos that create a lasting record of your astronomical experience. The book will guide you into this fascinating topic and allow you to become a participant in this latest wave of astrophotography progress.

SOME OF THE ADVANTAGES OF WEBCAM ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY ARE:

    * Webcams are far cheaper than conventional cameras or astronomical CCDs.
    * Webcams use USB plug-and-play technology, meaning they are easy to install on a computer and have fast image download times.
    * Webcams provide real-time feedback. Focus and exposure are adjusted on the fly to insure best results.
    * Each webcam video imaging session produces a single unique image.
    * There are no film costs.
    * There is no need to wait for a full roll of images to be taken before developing them.
    * Webcams can create animated images and movies of changing events such as transits of Jovian moons or lunar occultations of bright stars and the planets.
    * Webcam images are digital-friendly, meaning they can be printed, posted on the Internet, or emailed without the need for developing or scanning.
    * Except with special black-and-white cameras, webcam images are in color. There is no need for combining tri-color images when doing lunar and planetary work.
    * With the use of proper software, some of which is free, webcams can be used as autoguiders for other forms of astrophotography.
    * A webcam shutter, the device that controls the length of an exposure, is entirely electronic. This gives webcams a great advantage over standard cameras in that there is no mechanical shutter to wear out or malfunction.
    * A webcam can easily take more individual exposures in a single evening of lunar photography than someone will take in a lifetime of snapshot photography. For instance, the full Moon mosaic on page 2 of this book is the summation of 28,800 individual video frames. This is the equivalent of snapping 800 rolls of 36-exposure 35mm film.
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Photoshop for Astrophotographers  - A Guide to Digital Correction and Enhancement Techniques for Astrophotography

This book on CD-ROM gives detailed, step-by-step directions describing methods for properly adjusting, correcting and enhancing images with Photoshop. You will learn to easily improve the brightness and contrast, color balance, and sharpness of images, as well as crop, resize, dodge and burn, remove dust and scratches, adjust the color saturation, and apply filtration. Advanced techniques such as layer masks are also covered.

Named by Sky and Telescope magazine as a Hot New Product for 2004!

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Wide-Field Astrophotography, Reeves.  Wide-field astrophotography is an area where the beginner can bypass the complexities of prime focus telescopic astrophotography yet still excel and achieve good results quickly. Exquisite prime focus close-ups of galaxies and faint nebulae are attractive showpieces, but the art and technicalities of photographing such objects through a telescope are intimidating to the beginner. In high-resolution telescopic photography, the cost of the specialized equipment, the complexities of focusing fine, often invisible detail through the telescope, and guiding with extreme accuracy to achieve worthy results are obstacles to a novice sky shooter. Simpler non-telescopic wide-field astrophotography is an alternative that anyone who owns a camera can enjoy.

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